The Two-Way

4:46 am

Tue February 14, 2012

Iranian Is Suspected In Bangkok Explosions

A Thai Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) official examines a backpack that was left on the bomb site by a suspect bomber in Bangkok on Tuesday.

Apichart WeerawongAP

A man thought to be Iranian blew off his legs, when he tried to lob an explosive at police in Bangkok. Shortly before that happened, two other explosions were reported in the commercial district of the city.

The AP reports police found a passport that identified the man as Saeid Moradi from Iran.

All of this comes just a day after Israel accused Iran of launching twin attacks on its diplomats. As we reported, a motorcyclist allegedly placed a bomb on a vehicle in New Delhi that hurt the wife of an Israeli defense envoy and a bomb was defused after it was placed in the car of a staff member of the Israeli embassy in Georgia.

The AP has the details on today's attacks:

"Security forces found more explosives in the assailant's rented house in the capital, but it was not known what targets they might have been meant for, Police Gen. Pansiri Prapawat said. ...

"One of the blasts in Bangkok damaged a taxi, and a grenade detonated as the assailant carried it down a sidewalk outside a Thai school, said Col. Warawut Taweechaikarn, a senior police officer in the district.

"Photos of the wounded Iranian man showed him covered in dark soot on a sidewalk outside the school strewn with broken glass. A dark satchel nearby was investigated by a bomb disposal unit."

The New York Times reports that the explosions in Bangkok come at a time of heightened alert in the country. Last month, authorities arrested a Lebanese man who led "police to a warehouse where they found almost four tons of chemicals that can be used for making bombs."

The Times adds that the man's arrest resulted from a tip received from Israeli intelligence agents.